Introduction. China is located in Central and East Asia. The vast territory of the state, covering the highest mountainous regions, vast deserts and coastal plains, determines the variety of natural conditions for tourism, as well as the border neighborhood with a large number of countries. China's seaside location is extremely advantageous in terms of tourism. At present, through the seas, China provides access to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world. The sea and coastal areas are used to organize coastal tourism. Increasingly, China's maritime waters and ports are used for cruise tourism. China has an advantageous geographical position in relation to the segments of the world tourism market. It is surrounded by countries characterized by the active development of outbound tourism, which have a negative tourist balance - Japan, Taiwan, Republic of Korea. The article analyzes the differences in the development of inbound tourism in the cities of China, provides a theoretical basis for the development of inbound tourism in cities. The comparative method is used to analyze the current state of differences in the development of inbound tourism in the key tourist cities of China and a comparative study of the influence and role of regional and economic factors on the development of inbound tourism in cities of China. Methods. In the process of working on the article, first of all, such methods of scientific research as analysis and synthesis were used, which made it possible to determine the optimal balance of forces and means necessary for the development of international tourism in China. Through these methods, connections were established between individual events and facts. In addition, other general scientific methods were used: comparative analytical methods, methods of grouping and classification, general scientific methods of a systematic approach to the study of economic phenomena. Results and discussions. Provided statistics show that the current development of inbound tourism in China is very different, and the regional concentration is very noticeable. The cities with the best development of inbound tourism are mainly located in the eastern region, external economic factors have the greatest impact on the development of inbound tourism in cities, followed by tourism products and the influence of the location distance is less. Conclusion. Tourism development is not only a matter of the tourism sector. The development of inbound tourism is inextricably linked with external economic and trade factors, therefore, in the practice of developing inbound tourism in cities, it is necessary not only to focus on the development of tourism products, but also to develop foreign economic and trade activities and business tourism. An important factor is also the fact that actively developing tourism contributes to an increase in the number of jobs